Wood Stove Decathlon Finalist: Kimberly Stove

The world's brightest wood stove designers and manufacturers will compete in the Wood Stove Decathlon Nov. 16 to 19 at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The competition challenges 14 finalists to build next-generation wood stoves that are low-emission, high-efficiency, innovative, and affordable. We wanted to hear more about these stoves in the builders' own words. Here we talk to Roger Lehet, whose company, Unforgettable Fire, manufactures the portable Kimberly gasifier stove in Burton, Washington. (Don't forget to vote for your favorite! Popular Mechanics will present a People's Choice Award to the finalist who earns the most votes.)

The Kimberly stove is comparatively smalljust 25 1/2 inches tall and 10 inches in diameter. It's also beautiful to look at. How did you arrive at this unusual concept?

Ours is the only stove that was designed completely intuitively and for the specific purpose of heating a boatin my case, a 28-foot boat with me, my wife, and our daughter living on it. Because the only spot available for installation meant removing a 12-inch-wide dish cabinet on the starboard side, and the boat had a list to the starboard side, the stove had to be diminutive in diameter and it had to be light56 pounds. It also had to be quite powerful, as the boat was not insulated as a living space. The next issues were that we could not store much fuel aboard. We also could not have smoke and soot all over the neighbors' million-dollar yachts only 6 feet away on each side of us. Beyond that, we needed to be able to cook and produce hot water for domestic sanitation and cooking purposes. Lastly, this stove had to burn at least eight hours so I would not have to sit on a cold toilet seat in the morning, turning me into a grumpy dude. Once the technology proved itself, the artistic energy of several team members came into play to make her the beauty she is today. This has been very important to the stove's unique market.

Can you tell me about the stove's functionality?

The stove is portable and can be taken from boat to cabin to RV and into the home. The technology of the burn itself is also very different. The bottom flame is kept around 450 to 500 F. That means that the fuel load will slowly release its gases, which are then reburned in an inferno in the top end of the stove. These temperatures often exceed 1500 F, ensuring that Kimberly has a near smokeless emission. Most stoves today have a single flame path which is elongated by adding secondary combustion air halfway up the path, whereas our stove has two completely separate flames.

Given its size, the Kimberly has become very popular within the Small House movement. Any plans to make a larger version for the rest of us?

We have heard from people all over the world that we needed to come up with a second product that would be less costly and more powerful, and we listened. As a result, our new Katydid rolls out this month. Katydid is a bit taller and larger38 inches high, 12 inches deep, and 12 inches wideand upon initial in-house testing it will have at least twice the output. We have also been able to drive down cost by employing robotic assembly.

Where do you think the wood stove industry is heading? Where does it need to go?

Honestly, I fear the future because so much misinformation seems to be put out by big energy interests who support the fossil-fuel industry. In my humble opinion, the environmental and financial costs of maintaining a national power grid could be exchanged for home-based power generation as well as wind, solar, geothermal, thermoelectric, and biomass renewables.

I believe that if big energy backed these efforts, they could still have a big part in supplying the needs of people who wish to make this move. This would also take a huge load off of our ever-weakening environmental situation. Lastly, I am sick to death of hearing about Äúclean-burning" gas or electric heat. I feel this is a huge lie: Simply look at the numerous documented environmental disasters and how they have never and may never be cleaned up. Then take fracking, drilling, distilling, shipping, and distribution pipelinesnot one of these can claim to have anything to do with clean energy. The time is way past due for the stove industry to bring about the best in clean-burning stove technology coupled with intelligent forestry and the use of scrap wood as fuel, such as the densified fuel market of pellets and presto logs.

Can you tell me a little about how you personally became involved in the wood stove business?

I believe I was born to work with fire. My first experience was putting out a fire I accidentally started in my father's garage with lawn mower gas and matches. At 18 I started as a chimney sweep and never looked back. After 26 years in the industry, our beloved wood stove shop was lost to a bad economy, but God gave me a new project in Kimberly. We found years ago that by caring about our neighbors and making their safety and needs the most important part of our work we would excel, and this is very rewarding.

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